Epoxy Sealing A Floor Drain

How to Seal Around an Existing Floor Drain with Epoxy

The Problem

A food processing facility owner writes, “I have a second floor production area that has a long stainless steel trench drain around the center of the room. We hose the area down with hot water, a crack is developing next to the drain that allows water to leak by into the room below. The floor below my quarry tile is concrete.”

The Solution

Cut a V in the concrete next to the drain to increase the bonding surface to the drain. If you cannot cut a V chip away some of the concrete next to the drain. In other words you are trying to cut away or break away the concrete around the drain to give more surface area for the epoxy to come in contact with. The additional thickness of epoxy (against the drain) gives you extra protection against leaks. The deeper you chip away next to the drain, the more bonding surface to seal against the drain. You need to be careful not to go all the way through the concrete. If you do you will most likely have to install a form around the drain with plywood or similar material (under the concrete)to hold up your epoxy when you go on to Step 7.

Grind or otherwise abrasively clean the edges of the drain to remove the shine and roughen it up. It is not so important that you have deep scratches. It is necessary to totally remove all shine off the edge of the drain.

Remove all dust, dirt and debris by vacuuming. If compressed air is used be sure it is oil free.

Prime the edges of the drain with Epoxy.com Product #660 – http://epoxy.com/660.aspx -Aluminum Filled Primer. Product #660 Universal Primer and Finish cures to a tack-free finish in 1-2 hours and can be recoated between 2 and 24 hours @ 75°F with 50% Relative humidity

Mix a small batch of neat (just resin and hardener, not filler) Product #10 – www.epoxy.com/10.aspx. Use this mix to prime all areas that the patch (Step 8) will need to bond to. Apply this to all concrete surfaces as well as to the surfaces primed with #660 Aluminum Filled Primer (Step 6). You can either let the material in Step 7 set overnight and continue with the this step within 24 hours of priming,or you can move to the next step immediately. The purpose of this primer is to make sure there is a secure bond between the patch which will be a dry mix of epoxy and aggregate and the other surfaces that would otherwise be dry. This reinforces the bond line between the patch (in Step 8) and all surfaces it will need to bond to.

Make a mortar of properly mixed Epoxy.com Product #10 and Epoxy.com Mortar Aggregate Product #82. Trowel the mix in to level the space between the drain and the remaining tile. Be sure to trowel the surface smooth. Allow to cure overnight.

Do a squeegee coat of the properly mixed neat (no aggregate) Product #10 to seal the patch installed in Step 8.

Allow to cure until it is hard to the touch, typically 10-12 hours at 75 degrees F.